In various manufacturing processes, such as the manufacture of radio frequency (RF) equipment, cell phones, and the like, testing equipment is typically included at various stages of the process to test the operation of each item produced. This testing equipment may either make up a part of the production line or may be a portable or transportable system maintained in proximity to the production line. While the use of testing equipment helps to ensure that the manufactured items operate correctly within a given set of parameters, the testing performed would be of little use if the testing equipment was not, itself, reliably accurate. Therefore, additional verification equipment is typically used to test the main-line testing equipment.
Test systems, like other electronic equipment, are susceptible to anomalies such as electronic drift, wear in cables or connectors, and the like, as time passes. Therefore, such equipment is routinely checked to verify its accuracy. By periodically checking the test equipment, electronic and physical faults, such as worn cables, connectors, or the like, may be fixed or adjusted. Furthermore, because environmental conditions play an important role in the testing of the manufactured items, the main test equipment is typically checked in place. Currently, verification equipment is routinely placed on a mobile test cart that may be moved around the factory floor to check the various test equipment. The group of equipment on the cart is sometimes referred to as a calibration cart. A calibration cart generally includes a source and power meter with a system controller, various couplers to connect to the different inputs or outputs of the test set, and at least one computers to run the testing and calibration applications for the calibration cart hardware. Therefore, a verification application on a calibration cart computer may cause a source signal to be transmitted to the input of the test set or test equipment to check various elements, such as the insertion loss of the cables, the test set set-up, all of the switches that would be found between the test set, the manufactured items, and/or other such elements. On a typical production line, there are many different cables, switch boxes, adapters, and the like that make up a part of the overall testing system. The calibration cart is generally moved down the line to test each of these components. Power is typically supplied to a cart through an alternating current (AC) power source. It may also include an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) to maintain power in the equipment as it is being moved from station to station and AC outlet to AC outlet.
While providing a means at verifying the accuracy and integrity of testing equipment, one of the main problems with the calibration cart is the inconvenience of moving the cart around and plugging it in repeatedly. Moreover, current calibration carts are generally custom built to a particular production line, running a particular testing format. It then becomes impracticable or expensive to create another calibration cart to verify or calibrate test equipment running the different format. For applications in the cellular communications industry, there are several different formats, sometimes even within the same phone. Further, as product prices fall and the margins of profit narrow, the cart method of verifying test sets and test equipment provides a relatively expensive solution to a systematic part of the manufacturing process.